Discussion

Shishito Peppers

Just recently became obsessed with these... I had them for the first time ever at one of Uni's late night ramen nights ($8 for a pretty big portion, "flaming" bonito flakes on top), and then ran into them again on the menu at Estragon (similar preparation, smaller portion, no bonito, but still really good).

A few questions... Where else have you had great shishito peppers? Where can I buy them fresh? I saw the thread from last year, and based on that I'm guessing HMart would probably be one of the best bets, but can anyone confirm recent sightings in Asian markets that are closer to downtown Boston?

Toro describes its roasted (fried?), salted capsicum-chili tapa as "pimientos del Padrón", but I don't know if that means they're getting the chilis from Galicia, Spain or just doing some other pepper in that style.

Estragon explicitly describes its version of the dish as "pimientos shishito".

True: they're both Caspicum annuum peppers, but the species includes everything from sweet bell peppers to cayenne peppers, meaning anywhere from 0 to 50,000 Scoville units. Of course, that same variation within a single serving is part of the fun of pimientos de Padrón. We call it "chili roulette", except everyone *wants* to get the hot one.

They show up at the River Street Whole Foods all the time - usually unlabeled, so you generally end up paying a generic "chile pepper" price. Given how light they are compared to, say, a jalapeno, that makes them ridiculously (and probably mistakenly) cheap.